


Fernweh | Changjin

by jsscallopedpotatoes



Series: SKZ COLLEGE AU [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 20 Questions, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bang Chan & Seo Changbin are Best Friends, Chan and Bambam besties, Changbin is not ok (i promise), Dance Major Kim Yugyeom, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hospitals, Hwang Hyunjin is Whipped, Hwang Hyunjin-centric, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Nostalgia | Jilix spinoff, Rapper Seo Changbin, always in our hearts, and minds, and they were ROOMMATES, can be read as a standalone, changbin's not there for quite a while, changjin - Freeform, especially in hyunjin's, hyunjin's a dance student, i have trouble with plots, it's a year earlier so not all of them are there, it's very angsty, plastic pants appear, shit happens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29240058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsscallopedpotatoes/pseuds/jsscallopedpotatoes
Summary: Hyunjin wanted to fly, far away from the place he was stuck in. College helped, in a way, but it was still so close to home. School, the academy, dance classes, college; his entire life had been a blur of one classroom after the other. Sure, he had fun choreographing, and he wouldn’t trade his friends for anything in the world, but it still felt like something was missing. That is, until a certain black-haired man showed up in his life.Changbin had promised himself to focus on his music studies, and his music studies alone. But how was he supposed to do that when he wasn't there for the lecutres and there was a dance major and dormmate constantly talking to him in a gentle voice?Nostalgia | Jilix spinoff that can be read on its own. Does not include all of OT8, as opposed to Nostalgia. Takes place a year before Nostalgia.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin
Series: SKZ COLLEGE AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146851
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. CHAPTER 1

The dorm was eerily quiet when Hyunjin entered. Neither of his roommates were there yet, so he didn’t quite know what to do except go to his room and place his last belongings there. It smelled different. Not like home. To be fair, he didn’t exactly miss his home. See, he’d lived there for a good nineteen years, so he was quite tired of always seeing the same walls when waking up, taking the same bus every day, spending dinner with the exact same people every day, studying the same subjects, going to the same academy… you get it. Still, the dorm didn’t exactly smell pleasant either. It was more an obnoxiously clean scent, like someone had used too much soap while cleaning. With a sigh, he puffed up his pillow and spread his fleece blanket out over the lower part of the bed. 

The sun had started to set, and Hyunjin was sat on the couch, reading a book. The couch was a bit too firm to be comfortable, but he sucked it up. It was better than the wooden chairs around the table. He wondered why his roommates weren’t there yet. The letters on the pages of his book didn’t quite seem to push through into his brain, and he had to reread sentences more often than he’d like to admit. In frustration, he slammed the book shut and threw it onto the floor with a loud thud. Just then, the door opened with a click, and two pairs of footsteps entered. Hyunjin perked up, and looked at the hallway expectantly.

Two men entered. Neither of them was dressed particularly odd, and there was nothing really special about them at first glance, Hyunjin thought. They did seem to be a lot shorter than him, judging from how they looked in comparison to the television. 

“Hi,” the tallest of the two said. “You must be Hwang Hyunjin.”

“I am,” Hyunjin said. Of course he was Hwang Hyunjin. Who would he be, other than the boy who was oh so sick of life?

“My name’s Minho,” he said before pointing at his friend. “And this is Changbin.”

“Seo Changbin,” Changbin said. “Nice to meet you.”

Hyunjin told Changbin that the feeling was mutual, and then took his time to take in the two. Minho had brown hair, a chiseled face, soft eyes, and a dancer’s physique. Changbin on the other hand was a tad more compact; broad shoulders, a pointy jaw, and black hair that reached just past his eyebrows. Neither of them seemed to be very cheerful people at first glance, and neither of them really made an effort to continue the conversation, which Hyunjin appreciated. He really didn’t feel like talking at the moment. Instead, Minho made a beeline for his bedroom, and Changbin went into the kitchen, opening a bunch of cabinets and coming to the conclusion that they were all empty.

“Minho!” he called through the dorm, earning an annoyed “What?” from his friend. “You wanna come with me and get some food?”

“Just take some for me!” Minho yelled back. “Tteokbokki is fine! I’ll pay you back!”

“Fucking hermit,” Changbin murmured before turning to Hyunjin. “You wanna come? I heard there’s a convenience store on campus.”

“Sure,” Hyunjin said after a moment of hesitation. What was the worst that could happen, right? It was just a short trip to the convenience store. There was no reason why things could go wrong, unless it was closed and they had to walk back, or if Changbin turned out to be some creep that was out to get him, or if—he stopped himself before his thoughts could spiral, dragging a hand through his hair and standing up from the couch. 

“So what are you going to study?” Changbin asked when they stepped outside. It was still quite warm, so neither of them had bothered to put on a jacket.

“Dance,” Hyunjin said, pulling his sleeves over his hands so they weren’t visible anymore. “I’m doing my bachelor in dance.”

“Oh really?” Changbin sounded surprised, he noted. Maybe he didn’t look like a dancer… he had put on some weight over summer, after all. Was it noticeable? Hyunjin looked down at his torso as Changbin continued, “So is Minho! I’m doing music production.”

Aha. Music production. So there was an overlap: music. If all went wrong, he could still start a conversation about music to kill the awkwardness. “Sounds fun,” he said. “What type of music do you make?”

“I rap,” Changbin answered. “And I’ve been making tracks since I was a teenager.”

Right. Childhood interest and all. Maybe there was something there—Hyunjin piped up again: “I started dancing as a kid, too. Been doing it for quite a while now.”

“I guess we’re both following some sort of dream, then, aren’t we?”

“Suppose so,” Hyunjin mumbled as he pushed open the door of the convenience store. Childhood dreams. Man, he hadn’t had one of those in a long time. Or at least a clear one. He remembered that as a really young kid he wanted to be an actor, then a chef for a while, and eventually settled for wanting to become a dancer. Hell, he’d take any job at this point if it meant getting out and seeing the world. Absentmindedly, he followed Changbin through the store into the isle with food.

They got back to the dorm with some tteokbokki kits and three iced americanos. Minho had changed into sweats and a hoodie, and was sitting at the table reading a pamphlet. It hit Hyunjin that all of them were new in this environment, and none of them really had any idea what was going to happen yet. No clue how to prepare themselves for college, no clue how to get through it, no clue how to—he was ripped from his thoughts by Changbin putting down the groceries very enthusiastically on the counter, creating a loud thud. 

“I’ll heat the tteokbokki up,” he announced, “and then we can have some quality time as roommates.”


	2. CHAPTER 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL FORGOT TO UPDATE SORRY

Hyunjin soon found out that Changbin’s idea of ‘quality time’ was synonymous to ‘eating tteokbokki’. To be fair, they certainly spent time eating, but the quality of said time was certainly debatable. If you asked him, it was rather low-quality time. He had always preferred quiet dinners, so it was odd to spend it with Minho and Changbin, who apparently couldn’t shut up. First, Changbin had tried to get Minho and Hyunjin to bond over dance, which had worked for a bit until Hyunjin had shut down the conversation with a curt “I guess we’ll see once classes start.” And then, Changbin had once again tried to spark conversation over some random topics like tofu stew and birth places.

The tteokbokki was alright. Hyunjin had some serious doubts about how far Changbin could make it if he had to cook from scratch, but the tteokbokki was alright. Maybe it was a bit too watery, but he supposed he had to get used to ‘alright’ food if he wanted to have the true college experience. He couldn’t always have his mother cook for him after all. He remembered his mothers wide variety of culinary creations, and was almost tempted to set aside his tteokbokki until his stomach ever so gently reminded him that he was, in fact, very hungry. So he ate it all up without complaining, too polite and scared to say anything about it. Insulting anything to do with Changbin didn’t seem like a good idea to Hyunjin, because the older definitely seemed like someone to be very scary when angry.

Minho was a bit more outspoken about his criticism, just plain standing up to get more salt and loudly talking about how dishes should never be under-seasoned. Changbin just scoffed and claimed, “That’s how I like it.”

“I’ll cook next time,” Minho promised. “To save us all from misery.”

Hyunjin found out a lot that night. Like the fact that Minho slept in dark blue boxer shorts and an oversized shirt that has multiple mysterious stains on it, or the fact that Changbin loved to watch horror movies, and even took a few DVDs. Changbin also snored, but that was alright, because Hyunjin was a deep sleeper. He still remembered sleeping through a fire alarm one time at his grandma’s house. Thankfully there wasn’t a fire, but it was still quite the experience to find out he was so hard to wake up that even a fire alarm couldn’t do it. That also explained why he had to have such immense trust in his family and his inner clock to wake him up in time for school. Now, there was no mother to gently tug him out of bed in the morning, so he wondered what was going to happen. Maybe he was going to sleep in and miss his first lecture—he didn’t hope so. Out of caution, he left the windows open that night so the sunrise was maybe able to wake him. 

\- - - - - - - -

Thankfully, he woke in time for the first lecture on the next day. In fact, he was in his seat five minutes too early because he’d been so scared of being late. Afterwards, he went to the convenience store to have lunch. The thought of a cafeteria filled to the brim made him anxious, so it seemed like the best option. As it turned out, he wasn’t the only one with a train of thought that followed a rails like that, because there were two other guys there. They looked a bit familiar; maybe Hyunjin had seen them somewhere around campus before. They didn’t greet him when he brushed past them in order to reach the kimbap rolls, only stepping aside a bit so he could pass. 

Eventually Hyunjin found himself on a bench somewhere on campus, right in the sun. It was a beautiful day. The sun shone from between a pair of cumulus clouds, the trees rustled softly in the late summer breeze, and there were birds singing to him from all sides. He ate his kimbap without any haste, seen that his first seminar was only in the afternoon. He also plugged in his earphones and listened to some music. Music always gave him peace of mind, something to focus on other than his thoughts. It was like a safe haven. Sadly, it blocked out the birds, but it was better than to overthink his current position on the small wooden bench. 

\- - - - - - - -

He walked back to the dorm after his seminar. Luckily his peers hadn’t been total assholes, and Minho had even been there, but he had stayed behind to go to the library. Thus, that left Hyunjin and Changbin alone in the dorm. That wouldn’t have been a big problem if Changbin had just stayed in his room, but no, he had come out and ask if Hyunjin wanted to watch a movie with him. Not wanting to sound distant or rude, Hyunjin had just agreed to it, but was thrown off by the other fishing his phone out of his back pocket and asking which movie he wanted to go see.

“We’re going to the cinema?” Hyunjin asked, feeling dread fill his body.

“Of course. Unless you have Netflix or something,” Changbin answered. “They have a horror movie that I’ve wanted to see for a while now. You down?”

A horror movie. Oh. Hyunjin wanted to sink through the floor. Why would he ask him to go see a horror move? He didn’t like horror. Even more so, he despised it. He could almost feel his brain short-circuiting. God, how was he supposed to deny the offer? It pained him just picturing himself in the dark cinema, terrified of what happened on the screen. 

“So?” Changbin said.

Hyunjin looked down at him with wide eyes, for the first time really looking him in the eyes, which turned out to be a mistake. The older was looking at him with the most desperate expression he’d ever seen, so with a sigh, he said, “Fine.”


	3. CHAPTER 3

He’d made many mistakes in his life, but man was Hyunjin going to have a hard time living up to this one. He silently thanked God that he’d had the brain activity to take a large jacket as he hid his face in the fluffy collar of his coat. The screams of the protagonist echoed through the cinema, and Hyunjin had to contain his own. He peeked out underneath his coat and looked at Changbin, whose gaze was fixed on the screen. The bright light reflected on the elder’s face, illuminating and defining his features. He was actually quite handsome, Hyunjin thought, but as he was about to elaborate on that thought, a nails-on-chalkboard-esque scream tore its way through the air, and he flinched in his seat. 

“You alright?” Changbin asked softly as he leaned over to Hyunjin. God, his eyes were pretty— “You seem shaken up.”

“Take a wild guess,” Hyunjin grumbled, a complete contrast to the way his heart did a little somersault in his chest.

“We’re already halfway through,” he said with a gentle pat on his head which made Hyunjin blush profusely. Granted, it was a very nice pat on the head. Very sweet and soft. “I’m sorry for taking you.”

“It’s okay,” Hyunjin whispered back. “I’ll be fine.”

As it turned out, that was as lie, because he was still shaking when they exited the cinema. The evening air hit Hyunjin’s arms, raising the hairs there and making him put on his jacket. 

“Did you bring the jacket just so you could hide in it?” Changbin asked with a grin on his face.

“No,” Hyunjin said, retracting his hands into his sleeves. “I like it because it’s fluffy. And big.”

Changbin hummed in disbelief, making Hyunjin scoff. They walked back to the dorms in comfortable silence, while the sky above them got gradually darker. 

\- - - - - - - -

Okay, going to the movies with Changbin had definitely been a horrible idea. Hyunjin pulled the blanket up to his chin as his eyes darted around his bedroom. His hands were clammy where they gripped onto the fabric. He’d left the curtains open in an attempt to make the room a bit lighter, but it had only resulted in several shadows that looked a bit too much like humans. Every now and then, he heard a noise from one of the other bedrooms and almost got ready to run before realizing it had been Minho or Changbin. 

Maybe around eleven o’clock, it started raining, which was quickly followed by the distant rumbling of a thunderstorm. Hyunjin was torn out of his half-awake daze and sat upright so quickly that he pulled a muscle in his lower back. His window lit up with a flash of lightning.

His shoulders started trembling when he heart the loud clap of thunder that followed. He’d always hated storms. Balling his hands into fists underneath his duvet, he squeezed his eyes shut, his own breathing the only thing that he could hear until another lightning bolt shot through the air. He needed something—a distraction.

The floor was cold against the soles of his feet as he waddled into the living room, wrapped in his extra fleece blanket. He just needed to get his phone from where he’d left it in the living room, but oh God was it scary. The horror movie from earlier kept replaying behind his eyes, making him always want to be with his back against the wall so he could see everything. He rushed over to the table, almost slipping twice.

Just as he was about to pick his phone up, he heard something and froze in his tracks. Footsteps. He was hearing footsteps at midnight in his dorm while his roommates were asleep. His mind started racing. He should get a knife from the kitchen, maybe use his blanket to strangle whoever—or whatever was coming, possibly even lift a chair up and swing it in its face—

“Hyunjin?” Changbin rasped. “What are you doing here?”

Hyunjin sighed in relief. “I could ask you the same.”

“I wanted a glass of water.” He gestured vaguely towards the kitchen. Man, his voice was deep like that, and his hair was somewhat ruffled—how was Hyunjin ever supposed to survive his presence? “You?”

“I just,” Hyunjin hesitated. “Needed my phone.”

“Why? It’s midnight.” Changbin asked as he walked over to get his glass of water.

Hyunjin didn’t know how to respond to that. He couldn’t just admit to being scared of thunderstorms, could he? Changbin was going to see him as a coward. He stared at the other’s broad back as he tried to figure out why that bothered him so much. Probably because he was his roommate and he was going to have to spend time with him and maybe even because he was really attractive an—

“Hm? You gonna tell me or what?” Changbin asked, turning around and leaning against the counter with that stupidly muscular arm. “I mean you don’t owe me anything, I’m just wondering.”

“I…” Hyunjin began. His mind was racing. Should he tell Changbin?

“Is it the thunderstorm that’s bothering you?”

Oh no. “Kinda,” he confessed. “Bad memories.”

Why did he have to say that? He was gonna throw himself out of the window, seriously—

“That’s fine,” Changbin said after downing his water in one go and putting the glass down on the counter. “You need company?”

Hyunjin had to stop the tears from welling up. “Please.”

“Let’s go sit on my bed, yeah? It’s comfy and warmer than here.” Changbin placed a gentle hand on Hyunjin’s back and lead him to his room. He’d been right; it was a lot warmer and cozier than in the living room. Changbin’s room was decorated with notebooks, posters, scattered pieces of papers, cassettes, albums, and CDs. It was so incredibly music production major. Hyunjin looked around for a second before sitting down next to Changbin, who was already on the bed and holding out a little bag of wine gums. Gratefully, he took one. 

“So what do you wanna do?” Changbin asked, chewing on his own wine gum. The thunderstorm was still rumbling outside, but the curtains were closed, so it was less bad than earlier. 

“Talk,” Hyunjin said softly to prevent his voice from coming out too shaky.

“We could do 20 questions,” he suggested, “unless you think that’s too high school-y of course.”

“No, it’s fine. You start.”


	4. CHAPTER 4

“Alright,” Changbin said, swallowing. “What is one thing you wish everyone knew about you?”

Hyunjin leaned back, head hitting the wall with a soft thump. One thing he wished everyone would know about him. There were a lot of things that he wished people knew about him. How was he even supposed to choose something. He thought back on his high school days, trying to figure out what he should say. “I wish people knew that life isn’t easy for me just because I have a pretty face or high grades.”

Changbin hummed softly. “I can imagine. I guess for me… I’d wish that people try to actually get to know me before judging me.”

Hyunjin tilted his head so he could look at the other, who was staring at the wall. He did look a bit like a bad boy, with his dark eyes and broad shoulders. However, the little baby blue pocket on his pajama shirt and his fluffy hair didn’t do much to keep that image up.

“You ask a question now,” Changbin said, turning and looking him in the eyes.

“Alright.” He kept looking at Changbin for a few seconds, fixating on the deep brown swirling in his irises. “If you could solve one world problem, which would you choose?”

“Easy. Poverty. If everyone everywhere had enough money, other problems would easily be solved too. More money gets you good education, good jobs, enough food, etcetera. That’s how capitalism works.”

“You could also just abolish capitalism then, right?”

“I guess that would work.”

Silence. Hyunjin stared at the wall. He didn’t really want to talk politics—what if he said something wrong and Changbin would hate him? God, that’d be awful. They’d barely even met each other and to get in a fight that early in a friendship? Absolutely not what he was going for. 

Before he could continue his thoughts, Changbin asked, “What scares you most about dying?”

“Dying doesn’t scare me,” Hyunjin immediately answered, possibly a bit too quick. “It just happens, right? There’s nothing scary about being born, so why would death be scary?”

They sat in silence for a beat, until Changbin retorted, “I think it does scare me.”

“Maybe you just watch too many horror movies.” Hyunjin looked at him, shrinking in on himself upon seeing the slight frown on his face. He looked almost hurt. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” he whispered. “I don’t think before I speak.”

“It’s okay,” he said, though it was clear that he was a bit put off. “I mean, I’m not scared of death as a concept, but more scared of the thought that I’m leaving things behind, or that I might miss out on things.”

“Oh, like that. Yeah, that scares me too, I guess. Or maybe it makes me more sad that scared.”

“Funny how those two go together quite often, isn’t it?”

Hyunjin nodded. He tugged on the sleeves of his shirt, pulling them down to cover his hands. 

“Why do you do that?” Changbin asked. “With your sleeves?”

He looked down at where his fingers curled around the hem of his sleeves. His nails had become longer, and it wouldn’t surprise him if one of them broke soon. “Habit,” he dismissed it. “I like having something to hold on to.”

“Like an anchor to reality,” Changbin mumbled. “Hold on, let me write that down.”

_shirt woven from the fabric of reality_   
_clutching the sleeves in desperation_   
_just to not slip away_

Hyunjin glanced at the hastily scribbled phrases in Changbin’s notebook, letting his eyes drift over the jet black ink where it was drying up. “You write,” he stated.

“Lyricism. I do music production. I told you that, right?”

“Yeah. It’s really cool.”

“Thanks, but you have to ask a question now.” Changbin slammed the notebook shut and threw it on the floor.

“Right.” Hyunjin thought for a second. “What’s one thing about yourself that you don’t like?”

Changbin leant back and rested his head against the wall. He sighed. “I think… probably the fact that I don’t let myself be weak. Because I know it’s not good for me.”

“Right. For me, I think it would be the exact opposite. I cry a lot, and I’m scared quickly, and all that.”

“It’s okay to be weak though,” Changbin said. “I mean, a lot of the time people are afraid to cry because we think being weak is a bad thing. Especially men do that a lot, but bottling up your emotions is no good.”

“I still do that though. I don’t open up to people, I just cry a lot at night in my room.”

“Well…” he hesitated. “if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be here, yeah?”

“Thanks,” Hyunjin whispered, quickly following it up with a yawn.

“You wanna stop and go to bed?”

“Mhm.” Hyunjin stretched his arms out above his head and stood up slowly. Without his back against the wall, the corners of the room seemed threatening again, but he manned up and went to leave the bedroom. Behind him, he heard the covers rustling, and he said a quick goodnight.

The hallway was dark, and Hyunjin couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched by something or someone. His breathing started to get heavier, and he rushed over to his own room. As quickly as humanely possible, he hid under his blankets. It didn’t make it better that, when he peeked out, the pile of clothes in the corner looked a bit like a man standing in his room. He clutched his blankets tightly and tried to keep it together.

Sadly, it didn’t quite work, and he felt tears welling up. A while later, the first sob escaped his throat, and it also didn’t stop there. Soon, he was full-on crying, burying his face into his pillow to muffle the sound and so that he wouldn’t have to look into the darkness of his room.

He didn’t know how long he lay there, crying into his duvet, but after a short while, his door softly creaked open, making another sob wreck his composure. Man, the horror movie really had gotten to him. 

“Hey buddy,” Changbin said softly as he tiptoed into Hyunjin’s room. “You okay?”

Hyunjin didn’t answer, but the way that he was rolled up in his blanket, sobbing, really did speak for itself. 

“You need a hug?”

Sniffling, he looked up at Changbin, stopping his crying for a second so he could nod.


	5. CHAPTER 5

Changbin was strong. Hyunjin already guessed that the first time that he’d seen the elder’s arms. But man, was that a good thing, he thought. Changbin had sat down on his bed and opened his arms so he could fall into them and bury his head in his neck. He was warm, Hyunjin noticed. Changbin’s warmth enveloped him, and his arms closed around him tightly, squeezing him gently. 

They broke apart a few minutes later, when Hyunjin’s shoulders had stopped shaking. Changbin sat back a bit, but left his right hand in his hair where it’d been stroking him softly. Hyunjin sniffled, bringing a hand up to pick at his dry lips. The hand left his hair to take a hold of his wrist and pull it down. “Don’t do that,” Changbin said.

Hyunjin looked up at him, mesmerized by the way the moonlight made his hair and eyes glow. “Your hair is shiny,” he whispered. “It’s pretty.”

Changbin didn’t answer, instead just ruffling the other’s hair and asking, “Feel better?”

Hyunjin hummed in agreement, rubbing his hands across his face to get rid of the wetness. The bed creaked, and he opened his eyes to see that Changbin had stood up, and was straightening out his trousers. He could feel panic well up in his chest again. “No,” he whispered.

“Hm?”

“Hyung, please stay.” His voice was soft and shaky as he could almost feel tears welling up again. God, he hated that. “Please… Don’t go?”

Changbin blinked at him a few times, but sat back down on his bed. “You want me to stay?”

Nod.

“Like, sleep here?”

Nod.

“In your bed?”

He blushed while nodding the third time. “If you… if you don’t mind. I understand if you don’t want to, but I don’t really want to be alone right now and—”

“Okay, scoot over then.” A weight dipped down on his bed, and soon Changbin was slipping under the covers next to Hyunjin. He opened his arms, and the younger automatically pulled him close, burying his face in his chest. They ignored the way that Hyunjin’s head wasn’t on the pillow, or the fact that his legs extended far beyond Changbin’s, because it was fine this way. Just him and Changbin, and it was nice. Warm, cozy, loving.

And soon, both of them drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

\- - - - - - - -

Hyunjin woke up sweaty and hot. His bed was moving up and down, like it was breathing. No—not his bed. His head was rested on Changbin’s chest, and he could hear the steady heartbeat against his cheek. It was way too warm underneath the duvet, so he silently tried to escape from the bed without waking the other up. The sun had already risen and was shining softly through the window, making the pile of clothes seem a lot less threatening. A groan startled him.

“Hyunjin?” Changbin had woken up, and had rolled over with an arm in from of his eyes. “How late is it?”

Hyunjin checked his phone, which was on the bedside table. “It’s eight.”

Another groan. The older sat up slowly, sighing exasperatedly. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Hyunjin returned. “I’m gonna have breakfast because I need to be in the lecture hall by nine thirty.”

“Okay.”

Changbin stood up as well. Stretching, his top rode up a bit, and Hyunjin could see a small expanse of skin between his waistband and shirt. It looked pale and soft. To be fair, Changbin was very soft. He remembered the way his arms had felt soft around him, but still firm enough to not let him go, like a weighted blanket. Hyunjin snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to face the wall, so he could take off his pajama shirt and put on a fresh blue tee. It was his Calvin Klein Jeans t-shirt with short sleeves, that he always wore when dancing. 

“Sorry, I’ll leave,” Changbin said, heading to the door. “See you in the cafeteria at lunch?”

“Sure.” Hyunjin watched him leave, and then also exchanged his shorts for a pair of cargo pants. 

\- - - - - - - -

They day wasn’t all that exciting, as Hyunjin found out. They got a lecture on dance history, and he and Minho spent a while in one of the dance studios. Lunch was fine. They sat and ate together with Changbin, who introduced them to a second-year music production major named Chan. Chan was handsome. There was no denying that for Hyunjin. Posture-wise, he was almost similar to Changbin: broad, muscular, compact, and in possession of really nice arms.

Hyunjin didn’t quite know what to do with the rest of his day, but by the time that he’d finished all his coursework for the afternoon, most others were already leaving the main university building to either go back to their dorm or to a restaurant downtown. He, too, found that it would probably be better if he headed back to their dorm for the night. Thankfully, he’d been able to get his hands on one of the studio apartment dorms. At least he’d be able to eat there instead of at the convenience store or in the cafeteria.

He ran into Chan in the convenience store, exchanging a quick few words before buying a good amount of ramyeon and extras for him and his dormmates. On his way back to the dorm, he saw a cat on the street. He watched it as he walked by, but didn’t bother to try and pet it—he was allergic to cats. All the way to the student residence building, he played music through his headphones. 

\- - - - - - - -

Minho was sat on the couch with a large, dark blue blanket draped over him as he typed away on his laptop. He must’ve been editing his notes from the lecture earlier that day. Changbin had made himself comfortable on top of the table, sitting with his legs crossed and back against the wall while he was writing in a black leather-bound notebook with thick, luxurious pages. It looked like an expensive notebook, Hyunjin noted, and on the spine was a label sticker that just said ‘#4’ in his scribbly handwriting. 

“I brought food,” Hyunjin announced. He set convenience store bag down on the table and started unpacking. Changbin looked up, startled, and quickly slammed his notebook shut. 

“Need any help?” Minho called from the living room.

“No, it’s just ramyeon. I’ll be fine. Can you set the table though?”

Not long after, they were all settled at the table.


	6. CHAPTER 6

“Are we always going to eat together?” Changbin asked. “I mean, it’s fun, but I think I’ll be out late sometimes too.”  
  
“Hell no,” Minho answered. “Of course not. It’s just that it’d be rude to refuse a meal when Hyunjin bought us extra food.”  
  
Silence for a while.  
  
“So you guys wanna do something next weekend?” Changbin asked again.  
  
“Like?” Minho said through a spoonful of food.  
  
“I don’t know…”  
  
“As long as it’s not a horror movie again,” Hyunjin scoffed. “I’m not doing that.”  
  
“I wasn’t planning on that, don’t worry. Maybe something like… I don’t know. Maybe just going out for dinner or going for a walk or something.”  
  
“We could go shopping,” Minho suggested. “Since we just moved in and all.”  
  
Shopping. Hyunjin tapped his fingers on the table to the rhythm of his favorite song. He liked shopping, usually. As long as there were not a lot of people around, and he had his privacy and the possibility to take all the time he needed. Shopping with Minho and Changbin… wasn’t ideal, but he could deal with it, he decided. He just had to let them take the lead.  
  
“Or we could go to the gym,” Changbin joked, flexing his biceps through his shirt.  
  
Minho tsked. “Not with you. We’re dancers. Different routine, different muscles, all that.”  
  
Changbin hummed. “Shopping sounds good though. I could use some things actually. Might have to make a list.”  
  
“Hyunjin?” Minho glanced over at the youngest of the three.  
  
Hyunjin nodded timidly, still not quite sure about it. “I’m not the most fun guy to go shopping with, but it’s fine.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Minho asked.  
  
“I mean… I guess I’m just not very fun because I’m pretty indecisive?”  
  
“It’s fun to give people advice though,” Changbin said, gasping immediately after. “You should let us style you!”  
  
“That’s a horrible idea, Changbin,” Minho said. “As if we could ever do Hyunjin justice.”  
  
“No, no, hear me out! We could pick an outfit at one store and then buy a bunch of makeup at the drugstore and then we can head back home and dress up!”  
  
“I don’t have the money for that though,” Hyunjin mumbled underneath his breath. He liked the idea, of course. He enjoyed being pampered, taken care of, participating in fun activities with friends, whatever. It was just the possible price that irked him. A full outfit and makeup would cost a lot—more than his budget, for sure.  
  
“I do, though,” Changbin said, leaning back with a smug smile, before freezing and continuing, “Not in a bragging way, I don’t want to brag about my money, of course—I didn’t mean it that way! I just… I’m happy to pay if you think it’s fun, I mean… it was my idea.”  
  
“No, I get that. I just… don’t want you to pay for my stuff.” They barely knew each other a few days, Hyunjin thought to himself. There was no way that that was an offer that he could accept.  
  
“Then we’ll make them communal goods,” Minho suggested. “Say, we end up buying a hoodie for Changbin’s little dress-up game, and then we can all wear it whenever we want. That way he isn’t paying for your things, but for our things.”  
  
Hyunjin opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but was interrupted by Changbin letting out an excited yell. “I love that idea! We can share the things we buy! And then compare the way we look in the clothes and makeup!”  
  
Minho hummed amusedly. “You’re like… half Hyunjin’s size though.”  
  
“Oversized clothes are in.” Hyunjin shrugged. “I think this is a better idea.”  
  
\- - - - - - - -  
  
The rest of the week wasn’t particularly eventful. At least, for Hyunjin it certainly wasn’t. He just went about his business as always. On Saturday however, he found himself nervous to go shopping with Changbin and Minho.  
  
It was busy in town. Hyunjin didn’t like it. Every few seconds, he got distracted and had to look around frantically to find his dormmates. One time, he almost panicked because he couldn’t find them, until he looked down a bit and almost ran into Changbin, who was standing in front of him. People bustled around them as the three of them made their way down one of the larger streets, so they could go to the shopping district.  
  
Once they got there, it was still quite full, but it seemed that, even on a Saturday, most people on the streets had been headed to work or to public transport. At least Hyunjin had room to breathe in the shopping district. The colors and smells, however, were quite overwhelming. Plenty of shops had light-up signs on in the afternoon, and every time they walked past a café, the scent of coffee rolled towards him.  
  
“So where are we going?” Minho asked eventually, after just following Changbin for a while.  
  
“There’s this store that a friend of mine recommended.”  
  
“Oh? Which friend?”  
  
“Chan,” Changbin said.  
  
“The one that just wears black? That must be an exciting store.” Minho scoffed.  
  
As it turned out, the store was larger than they expected. They ventured up to the second floor, where unisex and men’s clothes were kept. Minho seemed to be very good at things involving fashion, because he kept on rambling about how certain items would go well together, but others wouldn’t. Changbin just nodded along, looking at clothes from time to time.

**Author's Note:**

> updates on this story will be weekly (as opposed to daily for nostalgia) because i haven't written that much in advance :)


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